Nice little machine. I just sold mine. I had upgraded mine to 12 GB (8+4 non-ECC). I see no reason why you couldn't go up to 16 GB. Why ? 2GB is fine if you're only using it as a file server, but if you are using your NAS to run multiple VMs, then the extra RAM can come in handy. I ran OMV, Plex, Transmission, Sonarr, Nextcloud, Pi-Hole, Logitech Media Server, Jeedom, etc... all in different VMs under Proxmox.

The problem with the Raspberry is that it is superslow. Its network port and all 4 USB ports use the same internal port, that has limited speed. A NAS typically reads and writes data over the network, while reading or writing to the disk. With RAID1, it needs to write to two drives simultaneously. With RAID5, it will be using all 3 USB ports, plus the network, at the same time over the same saturated bus.

- You can't grow a RAID 1 (where the two drives are identical) into a RAID 5 (where data is striped over the drives). This would require rearranging data blocks among the 3 drives, which is not feasible. - A Raspberry Pi 3 is pretty much the worse platform possible for a NAS. - RAID over USB, especially slow USB like on a Raspberry Pi, is not recommended. - You get the command line by connecting to the NAS over SSH (with PuTTy or the web console plugin) My opinion would be to forget about RAID (…

Also, a NAS or home server is typically going to be running 24/7. Old desktop PCs usually require a lot of power to run, so over a year or two of use, you will probably have paid the same amount in electricity bills as a modern setup.

I would use the 2x3 TB as for storage (with the union fs plugin) and back then up to the single 6TB. That would be less plugging and unplugging and you would only need to carry one drive to your backup location. Also makes things easier since the 2x3 TB would be seen as a single drive.

In that scenario, you are basically using proxmox as a NAS, which is possible, since it's basically Debian. So what are you using OMV for ? I have Proxmox running on an SSD. Guests are contained on the SSD and backed up to a USB drive on my router. 4 HDDs are on the host are passed through to the OMV guest, and of course not mounted in Proxmox. OMV handles all the storage work with those drives and shares over SMB. Other guests access the SMB shares. Startup is configured so that the OMV boots f…

Quote from TobiasReich: “Well, the point is, I don't like having any third party have "access" to my data. Honestly I'm not sure how it works. But if they have access to my music or movies, what else do they have. I wanted this NAS as a storage for me and my family. So there are private data on it. I guess my concern is not only creating a (paid) account but also in more general that I have no idea what this server does. I saw them indexing my files (which seems okay so far) but also some servic…